Bush
Description
Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year Distinguished presidential
biographer Jean Edward Smith offers a “comprehensive and compelling” (The New
York Times) life of George W. Bush, showing how he ignored his advisors to
make key decisions himself—most disastrously in invading Iraq—and how these
decisions were often driven by the President’s deep religious faith. George W.
Bush, the forty-third president of the United States, almost singlehandedly
decided to invade Iraq. It was possibly the worst foreign-policy decision ever
made by a president. The consequences dominated the Bush Administration and
still haunt us today. In Bush, a “well-rounded portrait…necessary and valuable
in this election year” (Christian Science Monitor), Jean Edward Smith
demonstrates that it was not Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, or Condoleezza
Rice, but President Bush himself who took personal control of foreign policy.
Bush drew on his deep religious conviction that important foreign-policy
decisions were simply a matter of good versus evil. Domestically, he
overreacted to 9/11 and endangered Americans’ civil liberties. Smith explains
that it wasn’t until the financial crisis of 2008 that Bush finally accepted
expert advice. As a result, he authorized decisions that saved the economy
from possible collapse, even though some of those decisions violated Bush’s
own political philosophy. “An excellent initial assessment of a presidency
that began in controversy…and ended with the international and domestic
failures that saddled Bush with the most sustained negative ratings of any
modern president” (Dallas Morning News), this comprehensive evaluation will
surely surprise many readers. “Written in sober, smooth, snark-free prose,
with an air of thoughtful, detached authority, the book is nonetheless
exceedingly damning in its judgments about George W. Bush’s years in office”
(The Washington Post). Read more
Features:
Product Details:
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; First Edition (July 5, 2016)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 832 pages
- ISBN-10 : 2
- ISBN-13 : 92
- Item Weight : 2.5 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 2 x 9.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,078,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #2,112 in US Presidents #5,023 in Political Leader Biographies #36,600 in United States History (Books)
- #2,112 in US Presidents